


Meeting Your Match

by ItWasWorthItEveryTime



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-12
Updated: 2016-01-14
Packaged: 2018-01-24 11:25:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 20,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1603439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ItWasWorthItEveryTime/pseuds/ItWasWorthItEveryTime





	1. Chapter 1

Ali needed a job.  She knew it, she had accepted it, yet as she looked up at the old brick building that was sandwiched between a laundry mat and a pet store, she was finding it harder to accept her fate.  The sign read “Movie Theatre.”  Simple and to the point.  She took one last deep breath and walked through the door.

There was an overwhelming smell of popcorn.  It was the first thing that she noticed and, really, how could she not?  The tiled floors were black and white.  They screamed either predictably boring or classically retro, depending on whether or not she wanted to be optimistic about her situation.  Boring.  So very boring. 

As she turned to walk towards the stand, she looked up at the large blue sign with white letters that was hanging from the ceiling by a pair of very dusty looking chains that read TICKETS.  She couldn’t hold back the sigh that escaped her mouth.  But she hadn’t even started yet.  So maybe she should be a little more open minded about this new adventure.  Even if it was 74 degrees and the sunniest that it had been so far this year.  It was a perfect day to go to the park with her soccer ball and kick it around with some teammates in preparation for preseason.  But she was an adult now.  Or so everyone kept telling her.

As she reached the counter, a blonde haired girl walked through the door behind the counter that was as far to the right as was possible with a clipboard in her hand.  The girl didn’t notice her for a few seconds, but when she did she paused with a confused look on her face.  Ali figured she was the one that should make introductions.  “Hi,” she smiled, hoping that the girl might be able to make her first day slightly more bearable.  “I’m Ali.  It’s my first day.  I think you’re training me.”

The girl smiled back, clearly amused, as she pointed at Ali’s black pants and burgundy polo.  “I would hope you don’t dress like that by choice.  I’m Ashlyn.  I didn’t know I was training, Steve must have forgot to mention it.” She shrugged and pointed across the lobby to a door in the far corner.  “He’s in there.  I think you have to fill out paperwork and stuff before I help you.”

Ali just nodded with a small smile on her lips as she turned in the direction that Ashlyn had pointed.  It seemed weird that the boss wouldn’t warn the girl about training.  She pushed it to the back of her mind as she knocked on the door.

Fifteen minutes later she walked out of the door behind Steve, following him down the hallway that ran perpendicular to the counter where Ashlyn was leaning against the counter reading a book that she held open with her forearm.  She glanced up from it when she heard the door close, before letting her gaze fall back to the page in front of her.  Steve didn’t seem to notice.  He hadn’t talked much while they were in the office.  He hadn’t even said much when he had interviewed Ali.  He seemed very quiet, but Ali had needed the job, so she didn’t question it when he had said she was hired exactly eight minutes into their meeting.

He turned right down the back hallway where there were signs for two theatres on the left.  He paused briefly in front of the only door on the right before pushing it open and leading her in.  “This is the back room.  You can put your stuff there.”  He pointed to a small rack in the left corner.  The rest of the left hand wall was taken up by refrigerators and there was a small table with one chair in front of a steel sink.  He took a few more steps and pushed open the only other door in the room, which was the one that she had seen the other girl walk through earlier.  She turned her head around, now, to watch them walk through the door.  Steve pointed at her, “This is Ashlyn.  She’ll be training you for the rest of the day.”

Ashlyn smirked up at him before turning to meet Ali’s gaze.  “I promise, I’m much more exciting than him.”  He gave her a pointed glare before turning around and walking back out the way they had come.  Ali watched him before turning back around to face Ashlyn again.  “He is, like, our boss, right?”

Ashlyn shrugged nonchalantly, “Yeah.  He doesn’t really like talking to us, though.”  She closed her book and threw it into an opening in the counter that held other books and binders before focusing her attention to Ali.  “This job is super easy.  As long as you’re not lazy, you’ll be fine.  And stay on my good side.  I hate it when people here don’t do their job.”  Ali looked at her and felt her eyebrows raise slightly.  Ashlyn looked back and quickly shook her head.  “Maybe I shouldn’t have started with that.  I just mean there isn’t a whole lot to do.  We don’t get too busy.  And there’s a lot of down time.”  She pointed at the book she had just thrown.  “It’s a really great job if you want to catch up on reading.  Or homework.”

Ali listened with a slightly subdued look on her face as Ashlyn led her behind the stand, pointing out things that she would have to know.  She showed her where all the candy was (“It’s kind of all over the place, you’ll get used to it”), where they kept all the cups and popcorn bags (“When you make people’s popcorn, don’t stick your hand in the bag to open it, just hold the bottom and pull on one of the sides”, and the cupboard where they kept the cleaning supplies (“If something looks dirty, clean it”).  It didn’t take long, though, and after twenty minutes, they stood in the corner.

“So,” Ashlyn looked out the door to make sure no one was coming in, “how’d you end up with this job?”

Ali watched her carefully as she spoke.  She was definitely more exciting than Steve.  But he hadn’t really set the bar too high.  She seemed to have a very intense personality.  She clearly took the job seriously, maybe more so than necessary, but she seemed like she was a hard worker.  Ali was a little afraid that Ashlyn might think she was lazy.  “I needed a job to earn some money over the summer and keep me busy.  I was looking around and my friend Pinoe told me you guys were hiring.  Megan.  Rapinoe.  I play soccer with her.  We call her Pinoe.  I don’t know if you guys do or not.”  Ali realized that she was rambling.  She didn’t really know why.  She didn’t think she was nervous.  “She works here.  Megan, I mean.  Pinoe.”  Maybe she was a little nervous.  She wanted to make a good impression.

Ashlyn looked amused as she watched Ali stumble her way through her sentence.  She nodded as Ali finished her spiel.  “I call her Pinoe, too.  But then again I used to play soccer with her, too.  Everyone else calls her Megan.”  She paused for a second before continuing, “And just so you know, there’s seven of us who work here.  Well, eight now.”  She pointed up at the girl in front of her.  “So we all know each other.  We’re all pretty close.”

Ali tilted her head, looking at the girl more closely, “Yeah, Pinoe might have mentioned that there weren’t many of you guys here… So you play soccer?  You do look a little familiar, now that you mention it.”

The girl nodded, smiling again.  “Yep.  I recognized you too, just couldn’t remember where from.”  She shrugged.  “Small world.”

They spent the next hour and a half talking about soccer and school.  Ali was only a year older than Ashlyn, so they had actually played against each other pretty frequently.  Ashlyn was from a couple of towns over, though, so they never played together.  They had both stayed local for college and were working at the theatre for extra money.  Ashlyn wasn’t nearly as intimidating as Ali had thought.  Ali wasn’t as quiet as Ashlyn had originally pegged her to be. 

Business was slow all day.  They didn’t have much to do, and Ashlyn didn’t seem surprised by the lack of customers.  Halfway through the shift, she slid down the wall and crouched against it with her knees bent.  She kept talking to Ali, forced to look up at her now.  Ali decided the angle was awkward so she crouched down against the cupboards to get at eyelevel with Ashlyn again.

“So do you have a boyfriend?”

Ali shook her head.

“A girlfriend?”

Ali looked up and shook her head again.  “No.  Do I look like I do?”

Ashlyn smirked. “Just wondering.  I use my first shifts with new people to cover the basics.  We covered most everything else.”

Ali smirked back.  “Yeah? Do I have any siblings?”

Ashlyn met her gaze.  She took in the amused look on Ali’s face as she paused.  “I don’t know.  Do you have any siblings?”

Her expression didn’t change as she stood back up at the sound of the door opening. “I guess we didn’t cover all of the basics.”

Ashlyn let out a small laugh as she watched Ali stand up.  She looked at her, intrigued by the other girl’s banter.  She wasn’t really used to that.  Maybe she was more transparent than she thought.


	2. Chapter 2

Two days later turned out to be another bright and sunny day.  As Ali angled her car towards her new summer home, she reminded herself of how much worse it was going to be if she went into each shift dreading it.  She put on a half-hearted smile, which really came out more like a grimace, and walked into the theatre to the smell of popcorn engulfing her once again.

There was no one behind the stand again today, so she walked through the ropes and headed through the lobby and around the corner towards the back room.  She was a little nervous about her second shift because Steve hadn’t told her who she was working with when she had left after her previous shift.  In fact, he hadn’t really said more than a mumbled “bye” only after being prompted by her own friendly wave.

As she rounded the corner, she heard the door to the backroom slam closed (because it was old and very obviously broken) as she walked towards it.  When she got in the backroom, the other door was already shut.  Whomever it was appeared to be a fast walker.

She opened the door to see a familiar blonde bunned head leaning over the sink.  She smiled in relief.  “How many people did you say worked here again?  Or did you just bully Steve into letting you work with me again because you had so much fun?”

Ashlyn looked up at her and rolled her eyes, one side of her mouth turned up in a grin.  That was the first thing that Ali noticed before she saw the beads of sweat falling down her hairline.  She tilted her head in confusion.  “What are you doing?”

Ashlyn leaned around the edge of the sink and grabbed some paper towels to dry her hands off before meeting Ali’s gaze again.  She set her face, apparently deep in thought, and paused for a few seconds.  “I don’t understand the question.”

Ali shook her head smiling, “I mean, why are you sweating?  It’s air conditioned in here.  Thankfully.”

She nodded in understanding and tossed the used paper towels around Ali into the garbage can.  “Right.  Well we get our orders in on Thursdays and our stock room is upstairs so I was just carrying all the candy and stuff up the stairs.”  She shrugged and ran the back of her arm across her forehead, effectively wiping the sweat away.  I don’t know why I’m sweating so much though.  The body does what it wants!”  She gestured her arm in an arching circle around herself to emphasize her point.

“Uh huh.”  She nodded and smiled as if a child had just handed her a half-eaten cookie, excited by their ability to share.  “Why did you carry all the stuff up, though?  Isn’t that Steve’s job?”

Ashlyn clapped her hands loudly, making Ali jump.  “A lot of questions today, Ali, I like it! I told Steve to do it and he said that he would ‘get to it soon.’ Knowing him, that wouldn’t be for another two hours.” She raised her voice at the end of the sentence, glaring towards the door across the lobby. “So I just did it.”

Ali narrowed her eyes.  “You take this job really seriously.  Or you’re just impatient.”

She laughed, pointing a finger at her. “You’re starting to sound like or other fine coworkers.  Which is something, seeing as you’ve only been lucky enough to meet me yet.”  She shrugged, walking towards the popper and throwing a batch of kernels in to pop. “I take everything I do seriously.  That’s either a character flaw or one of my best traits, depending on who you ask.” She turned around and crossed her arms across her chest. “And I also happen to be very impatient.  So you’re two for two.”

Ali smiled at her response.  It didn’t surprise her.  She had noticed the girl’s intensity in the first hour of knowing her. “Then I guess it won’t be long before I can read you like a book.”

Ashlyn looked over at her from her place at the register, waiting for the customers that had just walked through the door.  “We’ll see.”

It was another slow day.  Ali wondered to herself how they managed to stay in business.  It had been hard enough to find the motivation to find this job in the first place.  It would really suck if they closed and she had to start the process over from scratch.  But like many thoughts that had run through her head in the two days that she had worked here, she pushed it to the back of her mind.  Maybe she did ask a lot of questions.

Ashlyn was easy to talk to.  Even the customers, few as there were, seemed to enjoy talking to her.  She took notice of the people who appeared to be regulars.  Ashlyn greeted them by name only to be answered by a wide smile and hearty laugh.  It was surprisingly endearing.

Steve came out of the office exactly five times during the shift and came behind the stand once to count the drawers.  Well, the one drawer.  There had been no need to use the second.  Each time he appeared, Ashlyn paused what she was doing and looked up enthusiastically, like a dog being fed a steak.  She would lift her hand and wave it to her right exactly one time, like she was tracing a rainbow in the sky.  Steve would respond by lifting his hand, but never higher than his shoulders.  It made Ali smirk each time.

“So what’s the story with Steve? He doesn’t seem to talk much.”

“Yeah,” she nodded, watching him until he turned the corner before focusing her attention back on Ali. “He doesn’t say much.  But he’s a great guy.  Frustrating at times, sure, but nice.  I just like messing with him.”

“So he doesn’t count in the ‘we’re all pretty close’ group then?”

She smirked. “Nope.  I’m fairly certain I’m his favorite, but then again nobody else really puts in the effort.” She shifted her weight to her left foot and leaned against the counter with her forearm resting on the glass.  “My goal is to get him to come to one of our parties.  I think he’d have fun.”

Ali looked back at her and smiled.  She seemed like a very genuine person.  Her interactions with Steve proved true her earlier thought that she was the type of person that others liked talking to.  Steve had yet to smile at her in the short time that she’d known him.  It was a little off-putting.  “You guys have parties?”

Ashlyn just laughed. “I don’t think anybody has ever asked me this many questions in this short a time, ever.  You’re funny.” Ali felt her face redden as she opened her mouth to respond.  Ashlyn shook her head, waving her off. “I’m just kidding.  Well, no I’m not.  But it’s fine.  It’s just like twenty questions.” She grinned again before continuing.  “Yeah, we all hang out.  Usually once a week in the summer.  We just go over to one of our houses and hang out after we get off at 12.  It’s pretty laid back. A fire, few drinks, swimming if there’s a pool.”

She listened to her and tried to look like she wanted to hear more without actually asking another question.  She was curious, and Ashlyn was willing to give her answers.  From the amused look on Ashlyn’s face, Ali guessed that she was being obvious regardless of her efforts.

“Like I said, we all actually like each other which is cool.  It gives us something to look forward to on Friday nights when we get off.”  Ashlyn stood up straight again and snapped her fingers.  “Actually, I meant to ask you. Everyone’s coming over to my place tomorrow after we close.  You want to come? You can meet everyone else that isn’t me.”

Ali smiled, nodding her head. “Yeah, sure.  That’d be great.” She paused. “Do you know if I’m working tomorrow, though? No one has actually told me.”

She grinned. “Awesome.  You can just follow us there.  And you do work tomorrow.  The schedule comes out on Mondays.” She turned towards the compartment with the pile of books and pulled out a white binder with a piece of paper stuck in the sleeve that read ‘Do not eat popcorn behind the stand. Do not reach your bare hand into the bin to grab popcorn to eat behind the stand.’ Ali tilted her head as she read the paper and smirked.  Ashlyn just shrugged. “Steve,” was the only explanation she offered.

“You’re working with me again, too, you lucky girl. But Rachel and Brian are working, too, so you’ll meet more of us before you come over.”

Ali nodded as she looked down at the schedule. “So I’m going to be like the new kid at school for this thing?”

Ashlyn grinned.  “Totally. But between me and Pinoe, they all know your life story already.  We told them you suck.” She laughed. “And judging from the amount of questions you’ve asked me, by the end of the night you’ll know all about them, too.”

Ali looked up and glared at her, small smile spreading across her face. “Jerk.”


	3. Chapter 3

Friday night was significantly busier than the weekdays that she had worked with Ashlyn. She had only 15 minutes to introduce herself to Rachel and Brian before a crowd of people appeared, not letting up for an hour afterwards. Ashlyn pointed at the second register to indicate that Ali should open it and then followed after her. “You’ve been trained by the best, so don’t worry. Be nice and smile and I’ll stick with you tonight.”

Most of the people were nice and Ali found the beginning of the shift much more enjoyable than the previous days where human interaction, outside of her conversations with Ashlyn, were scare. She tried to remember everything that Ashlyn had told her while she went. As she was getting the first popcorn of the night, she sensed someone watching her. She looked up to meet Ashlyn’s gaze and made a point of holding the bag up and pulling it open without sticking her hand inside. Ashlyn grinned and turned back to focus on the customers she was waiting on.

Once the crowd died down, there were plenty of opportunities to get acquainted with her new coworkers. Brian was a tall, brown haired guy with a kind face who was the same age as Ali. He smiled constantly and seemed to have a sense of humor similar to Ashlyn’s. “So, Ashlyn tells me that you play soccer with Megan, that you’re going to college across town, that you ask a lot of questions, like to be outside, don’t particularly like having a job or the color orange, and that you’re a fairly decent worker. What else do I need to know?”

Ali looked over at Ashlyn who was grinning and nodding along with Brain, and shook her head in amusement before looking back at Brian. “I have an older brother, did she mention that?”

Ashlyn turned her attention to Ali, grin spreading wider across her face. Ali only spared her a glance. “As a matter of fact she didn’t. Seems like she’s slipping.” He turned to face Ashlyn with a frown on his face. “I’m disappointed in you. I feel like I don’t even know the girl.”

Ali liked Brian.

Rachel was a tiny brunette who seemed shy at first, but opened up as the night went along. Ali had to look down every time she wanted to talk to her and was met with a pleasant grin each time. “They’re both funny. When you get them together, it’s like babysitting a bunch of 10 year old boys. They tell me that they’re not related, but I’m not sure I’m entirely convinced.” They both turned to look as Ashlyn told Brian a story, motioning wildly with her hands. He let out a loud, deep laugh, tilting his head forward in mirth.

Ali turned back to look at Rachel who seemed to be waiting patiently for Ali to say something. She offered a kind smile at the taller girls pause. “They told me I asked too many questions, too.” She shrugged. “I just wanted to know a little bit about the people that I was going to be spending 6 hours a day with. Everyone here is really nice. They were all really helpful and kind when I started, so you’ll be fine. I just had to get used to the sarcasm. But you’ve already had to deal with Ashlyn, so I think the rest of them will be a cake walk.”

Rachel seemed like someone who wouldn’t mind answering all of the questions that Ali had. She made a mental note of that. She really was very sweet.

By the end of the night, Ali felt a bit better about going over to Ashlyn’s. She knew a few more people and liked them both a lot, which had eased some of her earlier nerves. As nice as they were, Ali found herself talking with Ashlyn more throughout the night. But they were working on the same drawer and Ali had known her longer, so it made sense.

They closed down the stand and swept out all the theatres as the last shows of the night got out. Just like most other things in the building, the brooms and butlers that they had to use were old and disheveled looking. Every time she went to go sweep up a piece of trash, another few things would fly out of the bent and broken bristles of the broom.

Ashlyn caught her as she groaned in frustration after sweeping the same area of rug for the fourth time. “In case you haven’t noticed, we don’t have the best supplies to do our job well. I’ve complained to Steve plenty of times. I don’t really think he can do anything about it, though. Or else he doesn’t care. I haven’t decided which excuse I believe yet.” She reached over and slid Ali’s hand down so that it was on the middle of the handle of the butler. She did the same to her other hand that was holding the broom. “You need the leverage. And sweep in small motions. It makes less stuff fly out.”

Ali looked up at her with an apprehensive look on her face. Ashlyn just stared pointedly at the pile of garbage in front of Ali. She did as she was directed and got most of it on the first try. She looked back up to see a satisfied looking Ashlyn. The other girl just shrugged. “I’ve been working here a long time. You learn all of the little tricks. And I’ll tell you the rest.”

Cleaning the theatres was by far her least favorite part of the job. It was only made better by the yelled conversation between her and her three coworkers who were sweeping opposite sides of the theatre and trying to be heard over the advertisements that continued to play on the screen. She found herself smiling as she struggled to get the floor clean. It was actually pretty enjoyable.

She followed the other three into the back room as they collected all of their things and went behind the stands to clock out. Ali was mostly listening to them discuss plans for the night, led by Ashlyn and Brian. “Yeah, everyone told me that they were coming over except Pinoe. She said she already had plans.” Ashlyn rolled her eyes dramatically at the apparent absurdity of the statement before continuing. “I told them 12:45 so that I could clean up a bit. You guys can come straight over, though, if you want.”

Brian shook his head as he punched out before turning to face Ashlyn. “We’ll probably get there around the same time.” He gestured at himself and Rachel. “I didn’t pick up any beer or anything yet.” He looked over at Ali. “What are you drinking? Do you need me to pick anything up for you?”

Ali smiled as she shook her head. “No thanks. I stopped before work. I’ve got chips and a cooler in my car.”

They all raised their eyebrows as Ashlyn spoke up. “You brought a cooler? Full of beer?”

Ali just shrugged. “I forgot to ask you what to bring so I just got a bunch of stuff. Someone’ll drink it.”

Brian and Ashlyn smirked and high fived each other while Rachel smiled. Brian pointed at Ali before he started walking out the way they had come. “I like you a lot, kid. See you guys over there.” He held up a hand in parting while Rachel waved over her shoulder.

Ali walked next to Ashlyn as they made their way to the big grey exit doors that led to the parking lot. Before they got there, they passed Steve who was walking in the opposite direction. Ashlyn turned to face him. “Sure you don’t want to come, Steve-O? You could just stay for a little bit.” Steve just offered up a small smile. “See you later, Ashlyn.” She sighed overdramatically and waved goodbye.

They walked towards their cars and Ashlyn pointed to the left. “Take a left out of the exit and just follow me. I only live, like, 8 minutes away. I’ll see you over there in a little bit.”

Ali nodded in assent. “Alright, see you over there.”

Ashlyn lived on a side street that was, in fact, exactly 8 minutes away from the theatre. It was about the same distance from Ali’s house. As she pulled into her driveway and turned her car off, Ashlyn walked over to meet her. “Pop your trunk. I’ll grab the cooler.” She did as she was instructed and helped Ashlyn lift the cooler out of the trunk before grabbing the bags of chips and closing the trunk. She followed Ashlyn inside, staying a few steps behind.

Her place was deceptively bigger than it looked. Her living room was to the left of the entry way and had a large beige couch and a decent sized TV sitting on a table. The kitchen was separated from the living room by a half wall. It was a little smaller than the living room and held an unnecessarily large table. There was a short hallway to the right that was dark and that, Ali assumed, led to Ashlyn’s bedroom.

Ashlyn set the cooler down next to the table in the kitchen before opening it and grabbing two beers. She handed one to Ali on her way to the couch before sitting down on it and motioning Ali to do the same. She opened the can, took a long swig, and watched as Ali did the same. “So how was your first real day?”

Ali laughed at the question, asked in a way that wasn’t much different from how her mother had once asked her about her first day of high school. “Well, I like everyone so far, so I’d say it went pretty well.”

Ashlyn grinned back as she leaned her head against the back of the couch. “I told you that you would. I promise, you’ll have fun tonight.”

“You promise?” Ali turned to look at her. “Well then, I’ll blame it entirely on you if I don’t.”

Ashlyn took another drink from the can she was holding as the left side of her mouth curled up in a grin. “I’m not worried.”


	4. Chapter 4

“Hey, you want to be partners buddy?  Everyone says they don’t want to take the chance of you being awful and then losing.  I’m not worried, though.  I’m really good.”

Ali looked up from the conversation that she was having with Trish, another one of her coworkers that she had met around an hour earlier.  She, like Ashlyn, had blonde hair and a big personality.  She was only slightly shorter than Ali and had been the first of the group to walk up and introduce themselves to her when she had walked through the door of Ashlyn’s house. 

Ashlyn was looking at her expectantly, ping pong ball held up in front of her face with her thumb and pointer finger.  Brian and Cody, a skinny boy who looked to be the youngest of the group, were standing near Ashlyn, talking to each other as they poured beer into six cups a piece and setting them at opposite ends of the table.  Ali turned to Trish.  “Is she actually good or am I going to be the one carrying the team?”

Trish smiled back at her, before turning to Ashlyn with a raised eyebrow.  “Well, Ash, I think you might have finally met your match.”

Ashlyn scoffed at the apparent absurdity of her statement and handed the ball over to Ali as she walked over and took her spot next to her.  “You’ve known her for a hot second Trish.  I’m not too worried about it.  We’ll see how she does before I even think about having that conversation.  I’m sure she can’t handle me.”

Brian and Cody were watching on in amusement from the other end of the table, abandoning their own conversation to listen in on the banter of the girls.  Ali narrowed her eyes at Ashlyn’s speech before turning her attention to the cups across the table.  She held her right hand up, lining herself up for a shot, before sinking the shot into the cup at the tip of the triangle.  She turned back to face Ashlyn as the rest of the group smirked at the look on Ashlyn’s face. 

Ali handed her the second ball out of the water cup.  “You’re up hot shot.”

\---

They won the game pretty handedly.  Between the two of them, they only went one round without hitting a cup.  Brian and Cody only managed to get three of the six cups in front of Ali and Ashlyn.

“Come on guys, at least make it a little bit of a challenge for us.  I only had to take one drink!  I’m thirsty.”

The group turned in surprised amusement at Ali, who was waving her single empty cup up in the air as she picked up the nearly full can on her side of the table and took an extended drink of it.  “To catch up,” she said when she finished it, putting it to the side with the other empty cans.

Trish walked over to Brian and Cody who looked on as Ashlyn gave Ali a high five, grin spread wide across her face.  “Oh my God, there’s two of them.”

\---

“Seriously guys, I know you’re better than this.  What about you, Taylor?  You were never this off when we were partners.”  Ashlyn heckled Taylor, an average-height black haired girl, and Rachel away from the table, who only paused to grab another drink a piece before walking back over to sit on the couch.

“I think you guys are just intimidating everyone.  In case you haven’t noticed, you’ve cleared out the table.”  Trish walked over to stand in between Ashlyn and Ali, who looked at each other with satisfied smirks, a hand on each of their shoulders.  She shook her head before following Taylor and Rachel to the couch.  “You guys are just too competitive.  Why don’t you just play against each other?”

Ali looked up at Ashlyn, slowly backing away to the opposite end of the table with her left eyebrow arched high in question.  Ashlyn smiled in response, grabbing a couple more cans from the cooler, sliding one across the table to Ali.  “Oh, you’re on.”

\---

“So what do I get if I win?”

Ashlyn had the ping pong ball held up in front of her face, one eye squinted closed and her tongue caught in between her teeth.  She was the epitome of concentration.

Ali noticed Trish, who was sitting at the spot on the couch closest to the table, turn her head almost imperceptibly.  She looked back to Ashlyn feeling a slight blush creep across her face.  She hoped no one noticed.  She looked down at the table where one cup remained on each side.  The five cups that had already been hit were stacked and pushed off to the side.  They had missed two shots a piece and Ashlyn was waiting to shoot her second shot of the round.  She looked up to meet Ali’s gaze after her long pause had apparently caught her attention.

“I didn’t know we were betting anything on this.”

Ashlyn let her hand fall to her side and picked up her can of beer in its place.  She took a long drink before responding.  “I thought we could make it interesting.  Although I’m not going to miss.  So if you want to hold off on the bets until you have a better shot, that’s fine with me.”

Ali raised her eyebrows.  She couldn’t help but to be intrigued by the challenge.  “You’re not going to miss?  Those are some pretty heavy words.  Some might even say cocky.”

“I’m cool as ice in these situations.  You’re not going to shake me.” 

“Fine. I’ll call that bluff.  You win, you can pick your own prize.”

Trish turned her head a little further towards them, clearly taking interest in the game that the rest of the group had apparently forgotten was going on.

Ashlyn narrowed her eyes as she looked over at Ali, who stood stoic with her arms crossed across her chest, gaze never wavering.  She hadn’t expected that.  “Huh.  Alright then.”

She brought the ball up once again to take aim.  Her concentration had returned.  Ali watched her carefully.  It was making her more nervous than she would ever let on.  A tension that hadn’t been there before settled into the spot on her back between her shoulder blades.  What did she want her prize to be?  She hadn’t given in much thought.  She’d offered it to Ali, not thinking that she would accept, and not prepared for a free pass for herself.  She didn’t want to pick something dumb.  Should she take advantage of the opportunity?  But she didn’t want to make her uncomfortable.  She didn’t really know her all that well…

She took her final aim and released the ball, watching it sail towards the open mouth of the cup, watched it drop down and thud off the rim of the cup, watched it bounce backwards, watched Ali catch it in her right hand, smiling as she looked up at a surprised looking Ashlyn.

“That’s what I thought.  I knew you were all bark, no bite.”

Trish let out an amused snort.  Ashlyn turned towards her, not realizing that they had an audience.  Trish just shrugged at her.  “You usually make those.”

Ashlyn turned back to look at Ali, who was already taking aim for her own shot.  She watched the ball fly in a perfect arc towards the cup and land inside of it, a few drops of beer splashing over the sides and onto the table.

“I win.”

\---

“We’re going to head out.  We’re tired.”

Ashlyn turned her attention away from the table where her and Ali were playing yet another game upon her own insistence.  She had yet to beat Ali and was becoming more than a little frustrated.

Brian reached her first and gave her a high five before waving over the table at Ali.  The other four stood behind his lanky frame, leaning around him to wave and say their own goodbyes.

“It was nice meeting you, Ali.  So glad we finally met someone who can give Ashlyn a taste of her own medicine.”

Ashlyn gave Brian a very disgruntled look as he led the pack towards the door.  Trish made sure to walk close to Ashlyn on her way out, giving her an exaggerated wink while her back was turned towards Ali.  “This,” she pointed her finger between Ashlyn and Ali, “is going to be so much fun for me to watch happen.  You’re going to have your hands full.  I can’t wait.”

Ashlyn swatted at her, annoyed, as Ali watched on with a poorly concealed look of interest on her face, clearly trying to listen in on the conversation.  “Shush.  I’ll see you later.”

They both watched as the group closed the door behind them.  Ashlyn abandoned their game and made her way over to the couch, plopping down on it dramatically.  “Well these things are certainly less fun when you’re losing at beer pong all night.”

Ali smiled at her as she grabbed her half empty can and followed Ashlyn to the couch, sinking down next to her.  “You weren’t losing all night.  We were winning.  You just started losing when you started flying solo.”

“That doesn’t make me feel any better.”

 “I tried my best,” Ali shrugged.  She looked around at Ashlyn’s now empty apartment.  “That was kind of an abrupt ending.  Guess you’re not the most interesting host.”

Ashlyn flicked her arm. “I’m very interesting.  I was just too busy trying to beat you and they weren’t as emotionally invested in my quest as I was.”

“You could reason your way out of hole in the ground.”

“I think that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

Ali grinned and leaned her head back against the cushion of the couch.  “I’m not going to be able to drive home for a while.”

Ashlyn turned to face her and let out a loud laugh as she watched Ali take another sip from her can.

Ali smiled as she swallowed.  “Don’t want to waste it.”

“That’s the spirit.”  She paused. “You can just stay here if you want.  Leave in the morning.  It’s not a big deal.”

Ali wiggled into the cushion a little, twisting her body as if trying to make a decision.  “You’re couch is pretty comfy.”

“Then it’s all yours.”  She stood up and walked over to a closet to the left of the couch that Ali hadn’t noticed before.  She grabbed a pillow and a blanket off one of the shelves and tossed them on the side of the couch nearest to Ali’s head.

“Thanks.”  She looked around as Ashlyn closed the closet door.  “Do you want help cleaning up?”

Ashlyn waved her off.  “Nope.  All I have to do is put all the empties in a bag.  Everyone is great about leaving them in one place.”  Ali followed her extended finger to where all the empty cans were, in fact, sitting on top of the kitchen table. “I’ll just do it in the morning.  I’m actually pretty tired too.”

Ali nodded in agreement, realizing that she was exhausted as well.  She pushed the pillow to one end of the couch and laid down, shaking the blanket out to cover her body.  “Thanks for inviting me tonight.  And for letting me crash.  I had a lot of fun.”

Ashlyn looked down at her in amusement as she pulled the blanket tightly around herself, curling up as she did.  “No problem.  I’m glad you got along with everyone so quick.  I’m not as glad that you just waltzed in here and took my spot as king of the table.”

“Queen.  You can still be king.  We’ll have a rematch next time.”

Ashlyn smiled.  “You’re too kind.”  She held up her hand and waved slightly.  “So, I guess I’ll see you in the morning then.  Sleep well.”  She turned and made her way down the hallway towards her room, hearing a soft “night” called after her.

She pushed the door to her room open before turning and closing it again softly.  Without bothering to turn on the lights, she padded over to her bed, falling face first onto it when she felt her shins hit the wooden frame.  She turned onto her back and stared blankly up at her ceiling.  She let out a long breath.

“Oh boy.”


	5. Chapter 5

She was woken up by the very distinctive squeak of her front door.  It took her twelve seconds to get her bearings and another five to stand up, confused.  She took her time pulling on a lose fitting pair of her old soccer shorts and a worn looking white shirt with a leprechaun on it that she’d had since she was fourteen that were lying on the chair in the corner of her room.  Once she opened her bedroom door, the memories of the previous night began coming back to her.  As they did, she quickened her pace wondering if Ali had already left.

“I hope, for your own sake, that no one ever tries to break into your house.  I thought that me accidently kicking the cooler might wake you up.  Negative.  And after I dropped that can on the floor, I thought for sure you’d come running.  I guess you can sleep with the best of them.”

Ashlyn turned the corner into her kitchen to find Ali sitting at the table drinking a coffee and eating a bagel.  Her eyes scanned the rest of the table to find a Dunkin Donuts bag sitting in front of the other chair with a coffee in front of it.  She walked over to it slowly, opening up the bag and peering inside.  “You got me breakfast?”

Ali just watched her as she finished chewing the piece of bagel in her mouth.  “I figured it was the least I could do.”  She paused to take another small sip of her coffee that still had small puffs of steam coming out of it.  “I take it you’re not a morning person?  Cause that sentence was just waiting for a witty response.”

“I’m not at my best in the morning.  I usually need my coffee before I start functioning well.”  She took the lid off and held the cup up in the air in toast to Ali before bringing it to her lips to take a sizable drink.  “You know the way to my heart already.”

Ali flashed her a genuine smile.  “That wasn’t to win your heart, that was to ease the sting of me beating you last night so that I still get an invite to the next one.”

Ashlyn paused in her attempt to unfold the wrapping on her own bagel and looked up with a frown on her face.  “Whew, you’re vicious in the morning.”

“I was just trying to get your attention.  You know, wake you up a bit more.”

“Do you know what the best way to wake me up in the morning is?”

“There she is!”  Ali grinned widely again as she stood up, tossing the used wrapper in the now empty bag.  “And that is my cue to leave.”

Ashlyn frowned up at her from her breakfast.  “Huh.  It usually works better than that.”

Ali grabbed her hoodie from the back of her chair and pulled it on over her shoulders and zipped it up halfway.  “I have to work in a half hour, so you caught me at a bad time.  If you woke up a little earlier…” she drifted off with an exaggerated shrug of her shoulders.  “Or just recycle the line for next time.”  She continued her journey to the front door, walking backwards slowly as she went.  “But seriously, thanks for letting me stay.  I owe you one.  Until next time.”  She brought her hand to her forehead and saluted in parting.

Ashlyn snorted after her as she lifted her own hand half- heartedly.  “See you later.”  She looked back down at her bagel, contemplating for a few seconds before bringing it back up to her smirking lips.

\---

Ali walked tiredly across the nearly empty parking lot with her head down.  She opened the door to the theatre slowly and walked through the doors which cut off the bright ray of sun over her head immediately.  She sighed dramatically, only thankful for the tangible drop in temperature that the building provided.

She walked through the uninhabited vestibule and past the second set of doors into the lobby.  She looked over at the concession stand immediately, curious as to which unlucky coworker from last night would have to suffer through the next six hours with her and her moderately uncomfortable headache. 

She felt herself grin and heard herself squeal as she saw a thin girl with a shock of short, blonde hair nearly as bright as the sun she had just vacated standing behind the counter.  “I was beginning to think that you had lied to me about working here.”

She saw the girl turn her head slowly, followed quickly by the rest of her body.  “Girl, you know I come up with funnier pranks than that.”  The girl put one wiry arm on her hip and pursued her lips.  “But I was trying every trick in the damn book to spend some more time with my Kriegy girl.”

Ali continued her path across the lobby, speeding up her pace slightly.  “That’s better,” she called out.  She turned the corner, almost ran directly into Steve (who looked almost scared at their sudden close proximity), and into the back room where Pinoe was waiting with arms spread wide in the opposite doorway.  She walked straight into her and wrapped her arms around the girl’s waist, smiling into her shoulder.

“Please stop touching each other behind the counter.”  Both girls turned their heads in amusement to see Steve, who had already turned his attention away from them, walk briskly into the office.

“It’s just _so_ nice to see that man again,” Pinoe said sarcastically, letting go of Ali while still letting her hand rest gently on her shoulder.  “And you,” Pinoe turned her attention back to Ali, staring directly into her eyes, “I heard you had a great time last night.  Give me the details.  Give me all of them.”

Ali looked back innocently, shaking her head.  “Wow, Ashlyn was right.  This place is small.  Good to know that news travels fast…”

“Do not try and change the subject Alex.  Of all the parties to miss, I had to be gone for this one.  Trish is great, really she is.”  She paused and her tone got softer.  “I actually heard that you guys hit it off really well!  That’s so great, I knew you would, you’re both just such sweeties.”  She smiled before clearing her throat and continuing.  “But that’s neither here nor there.  Point is, she can only tell me so much.  So spill, lady.”

Ali patiently awaited her turn.  “There’s not much to spill.  Everyone is so nice.”  Pinoe gave her a pointed look.  “And I get along really well with Ashlyn, yeah.  We’d worked together a lot, so I’ve got to know her the best so far.  I beat her at beer pong.  Multiple times.  She’s not the most graceful loser I’ve ever seen, but she’s also not the worst.” 

Pinoe waited, then huffed when she realized that Ali had finished her recap.  “This is all too vanilla.  If I wanted this version of events, I would have asked Cody.  Come on now.  I heard you stayed over.  What happened?”

She nodded.  “I did stay over.  Nothing happened though.  We talked for a little bit and then we went to bed.”  She shrugged.  “I slept on the couch,” she clarified as she noticed Pinoe’s eyes getting larger.

“So you’re saying that she didn’t make a move or anything?”  Pinoe raised her eyebrow accusingly.  “Hunny, I know Ashlyn.  You are far too gorgeous for her to not try anything.”

“Oh, we flirted.  But that’s kind of how we started off, too.  It was nothing different.  She’s easy to flirt with.  I mean, have you seen her?”  Ali smirked at Pinoe, who looked much more satisfied.  “But nothing else happened.  She made like half a move, but then backed down.”

Pinoe let out a loud laugh that echoed across the empty lobby.

The phone to their left beeped.  “I can hear you from the office, Megan,” came Steve’s chiding remark.

Pinoe just rolled her eyes as she turned back to Ali.  “So, what you’re saying is that there’s hope for my two best work friends.”

“I’m saying maybe just don’t miss anymore parties.”

Pinoe’s grin was impish.


	6. Chapter 6

“So, I hear you talked to Pinoe.”

Ali stopped the ball with her right foot before looking up at Ashlyn who was standing about fifteen feet away from her.  “What?”

“I worked with Pinoe yesterday and she said that she finally got to work with you.  She said you guys talked about the party.”

They were at the local park that was a ten minute walk from Ashlyn’s apartment.  Ashlyn had texted her earlier that day and asked if she wanted to kick the ball around and help her practice before her beer league championship the next day.  She had looked out her living room window at the cloudless sky before smiling as she replied that she’d love to. 

Two hours later they had walked past an old wooden playground that was empty except for a girl, who looked to be in her late teens, sitting on the swing with a sketchpad in her lap.  The girl looked up as they walked past and gave a small smile and wave to Ashlyn who returned the gesture.  There was a cement path that veered left towards a baseball diamond.  They walked off the path and headed straight towards the slightly bumpy and very brown soccer field that was surrounded on three sides by a thick line of trees.

Ali wiped her forehead with her forearm before kicking the ball back to a waiting Ashlyn.  “Oh yeah?  Was this before or after you bullied her into giving you my number?”

Ashlyn caught the ball on her right foot before rolling it over to her left and passing it back to Ali with a snort.  “Please.  I didn’t even have to finish the question before she was tripping over herself trying to give it to me.”

Ali laughed as she thought back to the conversation that they had had a few days earlier.  “Alright, that actually sounds about right.”

“And,” she paused to hold up her hand, “I would’ve just asked you myself, but I wasn’t going to see you until after tomorrow.  I needed you and your killer right foot before then.”  She smirked as she accepted another pass.

Ali narrowed her eyes.  “Are you making fun of my shot?”

Ashlyn shrugged in response.  “Pinoe said she was busy.”

“You’re playing in a beer league, Ashlyn.  Pretty sure my shot is going to be better than most of your opponents.”  She put her hand on her hip.  “And aren’t you kind of overqualified for that league?  I’m pretty sure you’re not supposed to play in it if you played in college.”

Ashlyn just shrugged.  “I’m not really sure.  I think you’re projecting, Al.  I’ll talk to the team tomorrow after we win about maybe letting you join next year.  I know how coveted this trophy is.”

“I thought you said the prize was the bar paying the team’s tab for the night.”

“So much better than a shitty plastic trophy.”

Ali nodded.  “Yeah, that’s true.” She stopped the pass back and started walking with the ball so that she was more centered in front of the net.  “And I have a great shot.  I know I’ve scored on you before.”

“I definitely would have remembered that.”

Ali looked up at Ashlyn’s tone to see her grinning widely back at her.

“Get in the net Ashlyn.”

\---

The ball sailed over the reach of Ashlyn’s gloved right hand and into the back netting just as Ashlyn hit the ground.  She got up, grabbed the ball from inside the net, and rolled it back out to a content looking Ali.

“Are you going to throw some more shade at my shot?”

Ashlyn just crouched down and readied herself for the next shot.  Ali smirked before taking two powerful strides and kicking the ball on the ground to Ashlyn’s right and into the bottom corner of the net.

“I mean, I would feel kind of dumb for trash talking and then getting scored on a bunch if I were you.”

Ashlyn walked to the side of the net and grabbed her water bottle, taking a long sip before throwing it into the waiting hands of Ali.  “You were bound to get better with age.”

“A compliment for me, and a nice way to save face for you.  Everyone wins!”

Ashlyn grinned as she walked over to Ali, taking her gloves off as she walked.  “Fine.  You have a very nice shot.”

Ali handed the water bottle back to Ashlyn.  “In appreciation for your legitimate compliment, I will refrain from making a smart remark.”

“I don’t care what anyone says, we are such pleasant competitors.”  She held her gloves out for Ali to take.  “Want to try?”

“I don’t really think I have a choice here, do I?”

“It’ll be fun.”

She grabbed the proffered gloves and pulled them on, pulling the Velcro comfortably tight around her wrists.  She looked down at her hands as she turned them around to look.  They felt foreign on her hands.  “I think they’re too big.”

Ashlyn just laughed as she turned and kicked the ball further away from the net to the spot where Ali had stood.  “Unless you’re already planning a position change they’ll be fine for a few shots.”

Ali stood in the middle of the net and fiddled with them.  “I don’t think so.  I wouldn’t be able to put my ‘very nice shot’ to good use.”  She bent her knees like she had seen Ashlyn do and held her hands up in front of her body, slightly below shoulder level.  She looked up to meet Ashlyn’s eyes and nodded.  “Ready.”

Ashlyn took a few slow steps forward and took her shot.  The ball sailed right at Ali who adjusted her hands slightly to catch the ball.  She looked up at Ashlyn in confusion.  “Did you mean to shoot it right at me?”

Ashlyn rolled her eyes with a cheeky smile on her face.  “Yeah.  I thought I’d let you get a feel for catching the ball with the gloves on first.  It’ll probably feel a little awkward for you at first.”

“Oh,” Ali nodded.  “Right, that makes sense.  Thanks.”  She shifted the ball to her right hand and tossed it back to Ashlyn who caught it before setting it back on the ground with an amused look on her face.  Ali felt her cheeks getting warm.  “I should’ve rolled that.”

“Next time.”

“Right.  Ok.”  She bent down again to get ready, holding her hands back up to where they had been.  “Wait.  Are you going to shoot it right at me again?”

Ashlyn couldn’t hold back the laugh this time.  “What fun would it be if I told you where I’m shooting?  We’re going for the real goalkeeper experience here.” 

Ali felt herself blush again as she nodded, fidgeting with the gloves.

“Alex, don’t be so nervous.”  She bent her knees and waist and held her hands up a little lower than where Ali’s were and bounced on her toes in demonstration.  “Just like you were doing.  Stay on your toes and be ready to move if you have to.”

Ali nodded and tried to mirror Ashlyn’s position.

Ashlyn stood back up and readied herself for a shot.  “You ready?”

“Yeah.”

Ali saw the ball leave Ashlyn’s foot and sail to her right.  She shuffled over a few steps and reached her hands up and caught the ball awkwardly between her left hand and the bottom part of her right hand.

“There you go, nice catch.”

Ali shifted the ball in her hands and smiled.  “It would be a lot easier to catch without these on.”  She looked down at her left palm and straightened the glove, which had slid slightly from the force of the shot.

“It would also hurt a lot more.  And you get used to it pretty quick, anyways.”

Ali curled her right hand around the ball and rolled it to Ashlyn, who only had to take two small steps to her left to get it.  “I’ll take your word for it.”

She crouched down again and bounced around on her feet as she nodded her head one more time.

This time the ball went to her left.  She pushed off and up into the air and held her left hand up, trying to block the ball from going into the net.  She watched it go right over her outstretched arm and into the net as she fell to the ground, cushioning most of her fall with her arms but still falling heavily on her hip.

Ashlyn jogged over to her and stood above her looking down at her.  “You ok?”

“Ow.”

Ashlyn smiled as she held her hand out to help her up.  “It’s not the best feeling in the world.”

Ali used Ashlyn’s hand to pull herself up then looked down at her side, brushing the grass off of her clothes.  “It was a pretty good dive though, right?  I almost got to it.”

“Yeah!  You were close.  We just have to work on your landings.”  She paused.  “You didn’t really have to dive for it, though.  You could’ve just taken a big step and got to it.”

Ali looked at where she was standing in the mouth of the net.  She was no more than a foot away from the center of it.  “Huh.  I guess I didn’t.”

“Well, now you’ll know for next time.”

\---

They walked back the way they had come, Ali holding the ball between her right arm and the side of her body and Ashlyn holding her gloves in her left hand and the water bottle in her right.  They made their way back to the playground where the same girl was still sitting on the swing.  She looked up again as they walked past and gave another shy wave.  Ashlyn smiled back.  “Until next time!”

Ali looked over at Ashlyn then back to the girl, confused.  “Do you know her?”

Ashlyn shook her head.  “Not really.  She’s always here when I come to practice, though.  It took her like a year to smile at me.  I think I scared her at first.”

“Just at first?”

“Yeah, we’re good now.  I asked her if she wanted to kick the ball around and it was really a turning point in our relationship.”

Ali laughed.  “Did you heckle her, too?”

“Nope.  I save all of my good material just for you.”

“Lovely.”

\---

They walked back to Ashlyn’s house and Ali grabbed her keys from inside.  “Well that was fun.  I’ll let my team know that I can play in net if our starter ever gets hurt.”

Ashlyn followed Ali back out to her car and tossed the ball into the trunk that Ali had just opened.  “I would love to see that.  You’ll have to tell someone to get it on tape for me.”

“That’ll never happen.  For now, I’ll just stick to the back line and use my rocket of a shot as a secret weapon.”  She opened her door.  “Good luck tomorrow.  I’ve done what I can for you.  Have a drink for me when you win.”

“Are you saying you think I’m good?”

“I’m saying the other team probably doesn’t have anyone as good as me to test you.”

Ashlyn nodded her head with a smirk.  “I’ll take it.”

Ali sat down in the driver’s seat and started her car.  Ashlyn held her hand up in parting as she turned to walk back inside.  Before she’d gotten very far, she turned back.

“Oh, and Ali?  I’m having the people from work over again on Saturday night.  You should come.”

Ali looked up at Ashlyn with an amused look on her face, thinking again of her conversation with Pinoe. 

Ashlyn noticed her look and raised an eyebrow.  “What?”

“Nothing.  I’ll be there.  See you on Saturday.”


	7. Chapter 7

Ali didn’t have to work on Friday night so she hung out at her house until midnight before leaving.  Ashlyn was working and she wanted to get to her place a little early to help her set up.

Pinoe had texted her on Thursday.

**Pinoe** **(4:33) “** _So I hear Ashlyn’s hosting again this week.”_

**The Krieg (4:40)** _“Are you going to grace everyone with your presence this time?”_

**Pinoe (4:45)** _“Are you kidding?  I moved some plans around, pissed off a few ppl.”_

**Pinoe (4:46)** _“I wouldn’t miss this for anything.”_

**The Krieg (4:50)** _“I’ll see you tomorrow Megan.”_

**Pinoe (4:52)** _“Alright Alexandra”_

She pulled into Ashlyn’s driveway and saw the light on above the doorway, causing a faint glow across the small front lawn.  She opened her trunk and lifted the cooler out and grabbed the bag that had chips and cups in it, looping it around her pinky before walking up to the door.  She set the cooler down awkwardly and knocked.

It didn’t take Ashlyn long to answer the door.  “You are just all about a good party, aren’t you?”  The cooler that was sitting on the patio caught her attention.  “You’re awesome.”  She reached down to pick it up and led Ali inside.

“So how was work?”

“Eh, slow.  Kind of boring, actually.  But Brian was working so it was alright.”

Ali looked around to find Ashlyn’s keys on the floor next to the table that she must have missed when throwing them after she got home.  Her shoes were kicked in the corner of the entryway, one standing up, the other one sitting pathetically on its side.  Her jacket was haphazardly tossed across the couch.  Ali glanced over at Ashlyn as she was setting the cooler down in the kitchen and was only just noticing her half untucked polo and unbuttoned pants.  Ali raised an eyebrow at her.  “How long have you been home?”

“Like two minutes.  I guess you just couldn’t wait to see me.”  She opened the cooler and lobbed a can at Ali who caught it with her right hand.

“I thought I’d help you out a bit before everyone got here.”  She cracked the can open and sucked the foam off the top before it spilled onto the floor.  “Not everything is about you Ashlyn.  I was just trying to help a buddy out.”

Ashlyn grinned at her as she walked over and set her own can on the small table in front of the couch.  “I was kidding.  I appreciate you and your cooler full of beer.  I was trying to bully you into saying you missed me.”  She turned towards the hallway that led to her room.  “Anyways, I have to get changed.  Would you get the door if anyone else gets here?”

Ali walked around to the front of the couch before falling backwards onto it.  She took a small sip of her beer as she looked more closely around Ashlyn’s apartment.  She hadn’t spent much time in the living room at the previous party.  There was an old, glass fronted cabinet that the TV sat on.  It was full of movies, mostly old school Disney with the complete collection of the Harry Potter movies.  Before she could look around further, she heard a knock at the door.  She set her beer down and made her way over to the entranceway to let whoever it was inside.

“Well, well isn’t this domestic?”  Pinoe had a devilish look on her face as she walked around Ali and slid her shoes off and pushed them next to Ashlyn’s.

Before Ali could respond, Ashlyn walked around the corner pulling a sweater over her head.  “What’s domestic?”

Pinoe gave Ali a pointed look over her shoulder before turning back to Ashlyn.  “Oh, nothing.  I brought carrots and some cookies.  Figured you’d be hungry after working so diligently.”

Ashlyn gave Ali a confused look as Pinoe walked past her into the kitchen.  “Uh, thanks.”  Ali just gave her an amused shrug.  She turned around so that she was facing Pinoe again.  “Aren’t you a little early?  You usually waltz in around an hour late.  Didn’t have anything better to do tonight?”

“Oh, I just wanted to make sure I didn’t miss anything.  And I’m pretty sure that none of my other options would be as fun as _your_ party, Ash.”

Ashlyn looked at her for a second before letting a smile spread across her face.  “It’s about time you saw the light.  It took you long enough.  We’re all fun.”  She reached into the cooler next to her again to grab another can, sliding it across the table for Pinoe.

“I’m not doubting that.”  She took the bag of cups and chips that Ali had set on the table and set them on one of the chairs that had been pushed to the corner instead.  She took the cups out and started setting them up in a pyramid on both sides of the table just as another knock sounded.  “I’ll finish setting this up so you can get the door.”

Ashlyn turned slowly and headed towards the door, pausing when she was even with Ali who hadn’t moved far from the entryway.  She leaned towards Ali, “What’s going on with her?”

Ali had an amused look on her face.  She shrugged.  “I have no idea.”

Ashlyn nodded in understanding before opening the door to find the rest of their coworkers waiting.

\---

“This is shit, Trish.  We haven’t won a single game.  There’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to beat these two.”

“I told you before, they’re too good.  And they make each other play better, too.  It’s like they get so competitive that one of them will hit a cup and the other one _has to_ get one.  It gets old real quick.”

Pinoe and Trish turned to look across the table at Ali, who had a smug look on her face, and Ashlyn who had her head pointed towards the ground with her eyes closed and her right fist held in the air in victory.

Pinoe grabbed her half empty can of beer and marched over to the living room where everyone else was sitting, having already lost to Ali and Ashlyn.  Trish picked up her own drink less forcefully and followed behind her.  “We get it, you guys are great.  You’re awesome.  Perfect.  I hope you each lose equally when you play each other.”

Ashlyn waved her away as she walked towards the other end of the table and re-racked the cups.  She poured the remainder of her drink in the cups and picked the ball out of the water cup, waiting for Ali to do the same.  “Alright, Alex, bring it on.  I’ve been practicing.”

Ali snorted as she pushed her empty can to the middle of the table with the rest before looking up to meet Ashlyn’s eye.  “You’ve been practicing?  All by yourself?”

Ashlyn looked back at her.  “Yes.  Feel free to help me out anytime you want.”

Pinoe glanced over at them with raised eyebrows.  Trish caught her eye as she turned back around and grinned.  “Told you.”

Ali smirked as she dunked the ball into the water cup.  “Eye for eye?”

Ashlyn nodded as she met Ali’s eye, holding her hand up in preparation as Ali did the same.  They looked at each other and cocked their arms back.  Ashlyn held onto the ball a millisecond longer than she wanted to.  Ali’s ball went into a cup.  Ashlyn’s fell short of the pyramid all together.  She let out a frustrated sigh.

Ali picked the ball up off the table and leaned over to rinse it off.  “Drink up.”

\---

Ali and Ashlyn split the remainder of the night between the beer pong table and the living room where they sat next to each other as they socialized with the rest of their coworkers.  Pinoe kept a close eye on both of them which Ali took notice of every time she looked over at her.  Pinoe would just grin and nod her head in an exaggerated motion.  After a few occurrences, Ali responded by shaking her head.  “Stop.”

Ashlyn turned her head to look at her in confusion.  “Are you talking to yourself?”

“No, keep talking to Brian.”

Ashlyn shrugged it off and turned her attention back to the story that Brian was telling.

“I’m just saying.”  Pinoe took another sip of her beer and turned to her right to listen to the end of Brian’s story.

\---

Around three, everyone started to stand up as they got ready to leave.  Pinoe, Trish, and Cody had stopped drinking earlier and led the rest of the group towards the door.  They all watched Brian stumble into one of his boots and one of Ashlyn’s, which was only a shade darker than his own.  Cody handed him the correct shoe and pushed him out the door, waving over his shoulder in parting.  Trish and Pinoe waited on the others to clear out before they put on their own shoes, leaning close as they whispered to each other. 

“You guys are such a bunch of teenage girls.  What is it, ‘secrets secrets are no fun’?”  Ashlyn looked over at them from the couch expectantly as she finished her can of beer.

Pinoe stood up straight with one hand on the door.  “Some secrets are fun, though.  We’ll see you guys later.  Have fun.”  She winked as she walked out, followed out by Trish who smiled as she waved at them.

“Well that was weird.”

Ali turned her head, which was resting on the back of the couch, to look at Ashlyn.  “Pinoe’s always weird.”

“That’s true.”  She looked down at the can of beer in Ali’s hand.  “Are you still drunk?”

“Yeah.”

“Me too.  Wanna play flip cup?”  Before waiting for her answer, Ashlyn stood up and walked over to the table, grabbing six cups and setting three on each side of the table.

“You can’t really play flip cup with two people.”  But she had already stood up and walked over to the kitchen, grabbing two more cans out of the cooler.

“Sure you can.  But if you don’t want to, I guess that’ll just make me the winner.”  She reached over to grab the can that Ali was holding out to her.

“Pretty sure that’s not how it works.”  She poured a little bit into each cup and set the can off to the side.  “But I’d never say no to a chance to kick your ass.”

“You might be better than me in beer pong, but I _know_ I’m better than you at this.”

“Know is a pretty confidant choice of word.”

“I’m a pretty confidant lady.”

“You don’t have to say that twice.”

Ashlyn smirked as she raised her glass.  “Cheers.”

Ali flipped her last cup right after a failed attempt by Ashlyn to flip her own final cup.  Ashlyn insisted they played again.  Ali won that round, too.  And the three after that.

“This is a stupid game.  You can’t play with two people.”  Ashlyn walked over to the couch and plopped down on it gracelessly.

Ali followed her with a smile on her face.  “That’s what I said, but you insisted.”

“Yeah, well, I’m dumb.  I hate losing.  Why are you better than me at all these random things?”

Ali turned sideways to face Ashlyn and shrugged.  “I don’t know.  I don’t like losing either.  But you did just win a bar league championship, so don’t sell yourself too short.”

“Are you trying to make me feel better?”

“Is it working?”

Ashlyn smirked as she turned her head to face Ali.  “A little bit.”

“Do you want me to keep trying?”

“A little bit.”

Ali shifted closer to Ashlyn and reached her hand over to touch a spot just to the left of Ashlyn’s shoulder.  She traced her collarbone across her chest slowly, then traced it back.  Ashlyn watched Ali’s face as she concentrated on her own hand.  She followed the curve of her shoulder up and cupped her hand gently around the back of Ashlyn’s neck and leaned in, pressing her lips against Ashlyn’s.  Ashlyn leaned forward into Ali and curled her right hand around Ali’s waist.  Ali grinned against Ashlyn’s lips and parted her own, letting her tongue graze across the length of Ashlyn’s bottom lip before surrounding it with her own.

She pulled back but kept her hand resting on Ashlyn’s chest. 

Ashlyn looked back at her, hand still at her waist.  “Is that what I get for losing?”

Ali shook her head.  “You don’t get prizes for losing.  That’s what I get for winning.”


	8. Chapter 8

It was Ali’s first shift opening, and she moved quickly, trying not to forget anything that she was supposed to do.  The fact that Steve was hovering around behind the stand with her was making her equal parts nervous and annoyed.  She felt like she was being graded.  “Am I doing alright?”

Steve jumped at the sound of her voice, apparently forgetting that she was physically able to talk.  “Oh.  Yeah, you’re doing fine.”  He turned his back and walked through the door to his left and made his way over to the office.  It was pretty obvious that he did not want to talk.

Ali let out a gust of air that she had been holding in, turning her attention back to the set of cups in front of her that she was supposed to be counting.  It was a much easier task when she didn’t have someone staring at her.

“Geez, why so dramatic?  You’re just counting.”  Ashlyn smirked as she walked along the front of the counter on the other side, making her way around the corner.

Ali paused as she was about to write down the number that she had just counted.  She hadn’t seen Ashlyn for a day, having left her house early the previous morning with a wide grin on her face after having hugged Ashlyn goodbye.  She hadn’t known that she was working with her today and felt a completely ridiculous sense of nervousness.

Ashlyn walked through the door just then, thankfully, before her thoughts were able to stray too much further.  She walked right up to her, leaning in close as she looked down at the clipboard over her shoulder.  “All done?  Well, well, looks like your trainer did an excellent job with you.  Maybe I’ll have to let Steve know that they are fantastic at their job.”

A not-so-well contained grin spread across Ali’s face as she flicked Ashlyn before walking around her.  “Don’t toot your own horn, Ash.  Maybe I’m just a quick learner.”

“I guess it could just be a little bit of both, if you insist on stealing some of my spotlight.”

“Doesn’t it mean more, though, if the spotlight wasn’t self-pointed?”  Ali tossed the clipboard inside its designated bin before turning around to look at Ashlyn who was leaning casually against the counter with her right forearm against the glass.

Ashlyn appeared to think on it for approximately four seconds.  “Maybe.  But I wasn’t going to wait around for you to admit that I did a good job with you.  I already know that I’m your favorite coworker.”

“Pinoe’s my favorite coworker.  Steve is my second favorite.”

Ashlyn smirked at her just as the door was swinging open with the day’s first customers.  “Fine, be difficult.  I’ll just settle for being your favorite coworker to make out with.”

Ali couldn’t contain the laugh that escaped her mouth as Ashlyn turned her attention to the older couple who were standing in front her register.

\--------------------

“Please stop touching each other behind the counter.”

Both Ashlyn and Ali turned to look at the phone on the wall that had just beeped to life.  They then turned to look across the lobby at the door that hadn’t been opened for the past two hours.  “It’s kind of creepy when he does that.”

Ashlyn rolled her eyes at the door before turning her head back to Ali.  “Just a little.  I don’t think he tries to be though.”  She looked back at the door before raising her voice.  “And we’re not even touching.”

The phone beeped again.  “You’re standing too close together.  You have to spread out for the customers.”

“There haven’t been customers here in a half hour, Steven.”

Ali stood up straight and stepped to her left, closer to the register as the door swung open.  She smiled at the man walking through the door before turning quickly to Ashlyn.  “Maybe he’s psychic.”

Ashlyn just frowned as she took up her spot in front of the popcorn bin.

\----------------------

“So you want to go get something to eat with your third favorite coworker?”

They had just walked into the backroom to get their stuff after Cody and Rachel had replaced them for the night shift.  Ali paused as she was picking up her purse and turned to look at Ashlyn.  “Who said anything about third?  Trish is an absolutely lovely girl.”

Ashlyn frowned back at her.  “You know what, you’re right.  I’ll text her and see if she’s busy.”  She made a show of pulling her phone out of her pocket before Ali bumped into her with her hip. 

“I’m just messing with you.  I’m actually really hungry.”

Ashlyn grabbed her keys that had been thrown on the rickety table hours before.  “I know, I’ve heard your stomach for the past two hours.”  She grinned at the affronted look on Ali’s face.  “My treat, grumbles.”

\------------------------

“Pinoe hasn’t stopped texting me since she left my house Friday night.”

Ali paused with her spoonful of soup halfway up to her mouth.  She grinned before continuing it on its path.  “Yeah, I’ve gotten periodic texts, too.  She’s so nosy.”

“Says Ms. Twenty questions.”

Ali threw a croton at her across the small table that they were sitting at outside the Panera that was a thirty second drive from the theatre.  “I was just trying to figure out how to do my job well so that the scary blonde lady that trained me wouldn’t yell at me.”

Ashlyn tossed the croton into her mouth.  “That’s funny, cause I heard that you have a crush on the ‘scary blonde lady.’  And she wouldn’t have yelled at you, probably.”

“What makes you think that I have a crush on her?”

Ashlyn looked up at her as she slowly finished chewing before taking a long sip of her drink.  She picked her sandwich back up before speaking again.  “I told her that if she wanted all of the ‘dirty deets’ that she should stick around for the after party.  Which is probably when she started texting you.  She couldn’t break me.”  She had a satisfied look on her face as she took a big bite of her sandwich.

Ali raised her eyebrow at Ashlyn’s avoidance of the question, but chose to ignore it.  “I didn’t tell her anything, either.  I’m sure she’s just livid with the lack of information to work with.”

“Well, I like you.”  Ali looked up at Ashlyn over her cup.  “And I’m glad that she left early.  I would’ve had to wait around forever for you to make a move if she was still there.  After she was heckling you all night, no less.”

Ali snorted.  “Says the one that didn’t make the first move.”  Ashlyn just shrugged, smile apparent on her face.  “And I thought that you didn’t hear what she was saying?”

“I’ve known her long enough to put the pieces together.  Plus, she’s about as subtle as a punch in the face.  I saw right through her.”

They carried their trash to the garbage can that was next to the door and set their empty plates on top of it.  Ali followed Ashlyn to their cars, where they had parked next to each other.  Ashlyn stopped outside of Ali’s driver side door, leaning back against her own car.  “I didn’t know that you had a crush on her, I just hoped you did.”  Ali turned around after opening the door with a smile on her face.  “And I _heard_ that she had a crush on you.  But that’s just a rumor.” 

Ali snorted as she leaned against her own car.  “Is that why you were afraid to make the first move?  You wanted to make sure that you weren’t going to be shot down?”

Ashlyn smiled as she stepped forward, away from her own car and closer to Ali’s.  “I wasn’t afraid to.  I was planning on it, you just beat me to it.  Just like a bunch of other things that you were beating me at that night.”

Ali was still smiling as Ashlyn’s lips met hers.  She felt Ashlyn’s hand reach around to cup the back of her neck, felt the soft graze of her hips just above her own.  Ashlyn took her bottom lip between her own, then mimicked the motion with her top lip before pulling back.  Ali looked down at her hand which had made its way to Ashlyn’s hip and pulled it back to her side as Ashlyn took another step back.

Ali stood up straighter and pushed the door open further so she could get in.  “Don’t worry, there’s always next party.”

 


	9. Chapter 9

Ali was cleaning her room, a job which had been neglected since she got the job at the theatre.  Between her shifts there, soccer practice, and maintaining a fairly active social life, she found herself not having time for such trivial things.  She got exhausted just looking at the large pile of clothes on her bed that she hadn’t put away in week.  When she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket, she snatched it up as quickly as was humanly possible, welcoming the distraction that it provided her with.

**Ash (1:07)** “ _what are you doing right now?”_

**Alex (1:08)** _“cleaning my room”_

**Alex (1:08)** _“want to come help!?!?”_

**Ash (1:10)** _“…no. BUT I can help you with a much more fun Monday afternoon option”_

**Alex (1:11)** _“it’s honestly not going to take that much convincing”_

**Alex (1:12)** _“just so you don’t let it go to your head and what not.”_

**Ash (1:13)** _“i’m just going to ignore your sass”_

**Ash (1:13)** _“PAINTBALL”_

**Alex (1:15)** _“!!!!!! fine you can have this one”_

**Ash (1:17)** _“;) pick you up in 10”_

Ali shook her head at the ridiculous mountain of clothes and reached into the middle of one of the piles for a long sleeve shirt and an older pair of jeans, turning away from the job that was just going to have to wait for another time.  She threw her current outfit onto a free space of her bed and pulled on the jeans and shirt as she made her way to her kitchen.

She looked up confused from her seat at her kitchen table when there was a knock at her front door.  She put the phone that she had been playing around on in her pocket as she swung the door open to reveal Ashlyn standing in a pair of camouflage joggers and an earth-toned shirt.  “Are you picking me up for a date in the late 70s here?  Do you want to shake my dad’s hand before taking me out on a date?”

Ashlyn frowned at her before sliding past her to come inside. “It is not too late to get uninvited Ali.”  She peeked around the corner into Ali’s room where the mess in her room was clearly visible.  “Those clothes are just calling your name.”

“Pfft, like you would do that.  You’ve fully committed yourself with this outfit.  There’s no turning back for you now.”  She closed the door behind her and followed Ashlyn to the table that she had just vacated.  “And what are you doing?  You know I don’t live with my parents, right?  You can’t actually meet them.”

Ashlyn just smiled back.  “Meeting the parents already on your mind, Alex?  We’re moving very fast here.  Just another stereotype fulfilled.”  Ali scoffed and gave her a pointed glare.  “But, no, I just had to pee.  Can I use your bathroom?”

Ali snorted as she sat back down at the table.  “Sure.  First door on the left.”  Ashlyn gave her a thumbs up before turning the corner and disappearing from sight.

Ali looked up from her phone when she heard Ashlyn’s footsteps coming back around the corner.  “So what made you decide paintball today?  Did you hear me moaning all the way from your house?”

Ashlyn sat down across from Ali and raised an eyebrow at her.  “Are you that loud? Interesting.”  She smirked as she felt a kick underneath the table.  “Naw, I just had a coupon and figured it was another opportunity to try and beat you.”

“You had a coupon?  How old are you again?”

“76. And you are just all about me meeting your family.  Don’t worry babe, we’ll get there,” she winked and blew an exaggerated kiss across the table at Ali, who just set her face with a barely noticeable smirk. “Alright Casanova, hold it together.  Let’s go.”

\----

As Ashlyn pulled her car into the dirt pathway that announced their arrival to ‘Mud n Blood Paintball’, Ali took a quick scan of the area.  It looked like a giant obstacle course complete with trees, bales of hay and giant mud pits.  She turned to look at Ashlyn, who was also looking at the course, and saw a huge grin on her face.  When she turned to meet Ali’s gaze, the grin got impossibly larger.  “This. Looks. Awesome.”

Ali just returned her gaze to the course and accepted the fact that she was probably not going to be able to wear these clothes again.  “You didn’t tell me there were mud pits.”

Ashlyn just shrugged nonchalantly. “I didn’t know.”

“Your coupon didn’t have ‘Mud n Blood Paintball’ on it anywhere?” Ali asked sarcastically.

“All I saw was paintball and I got so excited that I must have just not processed the rest.” She turned to look at Ali with a grin on her face. “Why, is the queen worried about ruining her clothes?”

Ali snorted as she pushed the door open once Ashlyn had parked.  “No, the queen is not worried about that.  I was just worried about wearing our muddy clothes on the way home in your precious car.”

“Shit.”

\----

“So, are we going to make this interesting?” Ali turned to look over at Ashlyn through her thick helmet shield. She rested her gun against her side and adjusted the black chest protector that she had been given before shrugging. “Sure, if you want to chance it.  What did you have in mind?”

“Winner picks their own prize?”

Ali shrugged, holding her gun out in front of her as she started walking towards the course. “Sure. I seem to remember that made you choke last time, so I’ll take that advantage with me.”

Ashlyn just smirked as she followed after her. “You’re on.”

\----

Ali looked down at the orange splattered paint that had just hit her on the outside of her thigh.  A faint sting accompanied it as she looked down at the rest of her body in frustration, seeing the other rainbow splatter of colors spread across her torso and limbs on top of the thick layer of still-wet mud that covered the entirety of her body.  She heard a loud bell ring, indicating that their time was up.

Ashlyn stood up from a mud pile some 15 feet in front of where Ali was currently standing, arms raised in victory.  She had only a single splash of yellow paint across her chest, but was even muddier than Ali was.  “Finally! 20 miscellaneous activities later.”

Ali couldn’t help but to let out a hearty laugh as she walked over to where Ashlyn was standing. “Yeah, yeah. I blame your ridiculous camouflage and willingness to lay in a disgusting pile of mud.”

Ashlyn pushed the visor of her helmet up to reveal that some mud had managed its way underneath her helmet to splatter across her jaw line and cheeks. “It’s your own fault that you decided a bright blue shirt was the way to go for paintball.”  She smirked as Ali’s smile vanished as she turned to make her way back towards the building to return their equipment. She smiled as she followed a couple steps behind Ali, trying to catch up.

\----

When they got to Ashlyn’s car, Ali started pulling her shirt over her head grumpily.  Ashlyn just stopped in front of her as she tossed it into the trash can in front of the parked car.  She stared at Ali, taking in her navy blue sports bra and toned stomach that had a few spots of dried mud on it.  As she unbuttoned her jeans, Ashlyn broke out of her trance. “What are you doing?”

“Saving your car.” She pulled her jeans off and tossed them on top of her already thrown out shirt. She stood in front of Ashlyn in just her compression shorts and bra, hands resting on her hips.  “Plus, they’d be a bitch to clean.  They were old anyways.”

Ashlyn just smirked as she opened the passenger side door and got in, waiting expectantly for Ashlyn to join her.  She took off her own shirt and joggers, balling them up and tossing them in the trunk of her car. She shrugged at Ali’s raised eyebrows. “Mine aren’t that old. And I really like that outfit.”

Ali smirked as she pointed at Ashlyn’s black sports bra and camouflage boxer briefs. “You really went all in for this, didn’t you?” Ashlyn just shrugged as she walked around the car, getting into the driver’s seat. “I was just so sick of losing to you.”

Ali laughed as she turned her head to grab her seatbelt, pulling it across her body and clicking it into the buckle before looking up and seeing Ashlyn leaning close to her. She reached out and met Ashlyn’s hand halfway across the center counsel, twisting their fingers together. Ashlyn reached her other hand up to Ali’s head, pushing the hair out of her face before running her thumb across her cheek. She leaned in and kissed Ali slowly. She felt Ali’s free hand running across her bare stomach before settling on her waist. She gently bit down on Ali’s bottom lip before pulling back.

Ali let her pull back but kept their hands together.  She watched as Ashlyn buckled her own seatbelt and started the car with a smile on her face.  Ali smiled back and nudged her with her elbow. “What are you smiling at?”

Ashlyn kept her eyes focused in front of her, but couldn’t stop herself from smiling wider.  “You’re so hot.”

Ali just laughed as she leaned back into the seat, glad that Ashlyn was too busy driving to see her blush.


	10. Chapter 10

“So I heard that you and my good buddy Ashlyn played naked paintball.”

Ali jumped and dropped her pen as she heard a voice behind her. She turned to see Pinoe standing in the doorway, arms crossed as she leaned against the door frame. It took her a second to process the blonde’s words, but when she did, her eyes shot open. “She told you about that?”

Pinoe’s jaw dropped open, hands uncrossing as she took a few hurried steps stopping just before running into Ali. “What?! She told me you played paintball. I was just messing around with you about being naked.” She stared at Ali as she slowly leaned down to pick up the pen that she had dropped before returning to adding up the inventory numbers. “Alexandra Krieger. Spill. Now.”

Ali let out a frustrated sigh before turning around and poking Pinoe with her pen. “You are such a little shit. How was I supposed to know you were joking?” Pinoe just grinned back at her mischievously before waving her hand, encouraging Ali to continue. “We didn’t play naked paintball. We played paintball and we were muddy, so we drove home without making a mess of her car.”

Pinoe scrunched her face up, half amused, half mystified. “You drove from the place to your house naked? Wow, I never would have expected that from you.”

Ali rolled her eyes. “We weren’t naked, we just weren’t wearing all of our clothes.”

“Uh huh. So…” she paused, waiting for Ali to continue. When she realized that she wasn’t, she went on. “Come on, Al. You can’t tell me nothing happened. There is so obviously something there.”

Ali just shrugged as she walked the clipboard back to where it belonged. “I mean, yeah, there is. We kissed. I like her.” She turned back around to face Pinoe. “She is very easy to like.”

“Aww! Your first kiss after what I’m sure was a very heated game of paintball? That’s kind of romantic.”

Ali smirked. “It wasn’t our first kiss. Sorry,” she added when she saw the affronted look that Pinoe gave her. “You didn’t ask!”

“My ass, I didn’t ask! I’ve been trying to get something out of both of you for weeks and you both leave me high and dry. People are going to think that I’m losing my touch.” She crossed her arms and looked over at Ali grumpily. “What am I supposed to tell everyone, now? That I have old news for them?”

Ali laughed before leaning back against the register. “Or, and I know this might sound crazy, you could just not tell them.” Pinoe scoffed before Ali held a finger up. “No, I’m serious. Let them figure it out. Or not. How much fun was it for you to let your imagination run wild? More fun than any of the real stories you’ll ever get from us.”

“Well I sure as hell never imagined naked paintball,” Pinoe mumbled.

Ali grinned before bumping Pinoe with her hip. “Maybe just give us like a week of gossip free fun before you guys make a thing of it, yeah?”

“So you like her?”

“I do.”

Pinoe grinned widely. “Ugh fine. Go be beautiful together.”

\----

**Alex (4:02)** _“I can’t believe you told Pinoe we did naked paintball”_

**Ash (4:15)** _“what?”_

**Ash (4:15)** _“I never told her that_

**Ash (4:16)** _“cause we didn’t. we can try that next week;)”_

**Alex (4:20)** _“oh right, that was me”_

**Alex (4:20)** _“whoops”_

**Ash (4:23)** _“lol you’ve unleashed a monster”_

**Ash (4:23)** _“she just texted me”_

**Ali (4:30)** _“she said she wouldn’t say anything, so we can still have fun with it”_

**Ash (4:36)** _“see you tonight pretty”_

\----

Ali was sitting next to Ashlyn on her couch, listening intently to a story that Brian was telling. She laughed as he swung his arm wildly over his head, before feeling the faint trace of fingertips pushing her shirt up and drawing circles on her bare back. She didn’t turn her head, but curled the right side of her mouth up in a grin.

It was only mildly distracting until she felt the fingers move further down her back, teasing slowly underneath the waistline of her jeans and underwear. She looked over discreetly to see Ashlyn looking intently at Brian, her wide grin the only thing giving her away. She turned back around, trying to focus on Brian’s story again. Everybody around the small table in Ashlyn’s living room seemed entranced by Brian’s story, oblivious to what Ashlyn’s hand was doing to Ali.

She was mostly holding it together, laughing at the appropriate points, but becoming increasing uninterested in what Brian was saying. She pushed her right knee into Ashlyn’s left knee before leaning forward, resting her elbows on her knees and her chin in her cupped hands. She felt Ashlyn’s hand leave her skin, and tried to refocus her complete attention on Brian again. She looked around at her coworkers and smiled with them. Everyone seemed to have a bit of a buzz, because the laughs coming out of their mouths were just a little louder than normal.

That was what Ali was thinking when she felt Ashlyn’s hand return to the skin of her waist, this time making its way towards the front of her body. She looked down discreetly and realized that her arms were blocking the others view of where Ashlyn’s hand was heading, a fact of which Ali was sure Ashlyn was not unaware. She felt Ashlyn’s hand dip under her jeans again, this time right by her hip.

She stood up suddenly, interrupting Brian’s story. “I’m cold. Ashlyn, mind if I borrow a hoodie?” She turned to look at Ashlyn who was smiling sweetly up at her.

“Sure, last door on the left. Go to the second dresser to your right, hoodie’s are in the middle drawer in the third row.” She paused before standing up next to Ali. “Actually, I’ll just show you. Don’t want to confuse you.”

Ashlyn headed towards her hallway, while Ali looked back at the people sitting around her. Most had already turned their attention back to Brian, but Ali saw Pinoe give her a subtle wink. She ignored her and followed along behind Ashlyn.

When they got into Ashlyn’s room, Ali felt Ashlyn grab her wrist and pull her into her, settling her hands on her waist before leaning down ever so slightly to cover Ali’s lips with her own. Her hands returned to their place just under the hem of her pants, pulling her gently forward so that she was pressed against the blonde’s front. “Are you having fun?” she mumbled against Ali’s lips.

Ali pulled back with a smirk on her face, swatting at Ashlyn’s shoulder. “Clearly not as much fun as you’re having. I was trying to listen to Brian’s story.”

Ashlyn smiled back as she watched Ali turn to look around her room. “I thought I’d add a little more spice to the story for you.”

“Yeah, well, mission accomplished.” She smiled briefly over her shoulder at Ashlyn before looking around the room more closely. She turned left, then right, before spinning to face Ashlyn again. “You don’t even have a dresser on the right side of your room.”

Ashlyn looked at her, amused, before slipping past her and opening her closet, pulling a light grey hoodie off of a hanger and handing it to Ali. “Yeah, I know. I just wanted to kiss you.” She watched as Ali pulled the hoodie over her head, revealing her smiling face.

Ali pulled the hoodie all the way down to cover her torso before closing the distance between them. “You’re not really making it difficult for people to figure out, you know.” She pressed her body against Ashlyn’s, wrapping her arms tightly around her waist. “I think they might be able to figure it out if they see your hands down my pants.”

Ashlyn grinned as she pressed her lips quickly against Ali’s. “I’ll tell them my hands are cold.”

“Why wouldn’t you just put them down _your_ pants, then?”

Ashlyn quirked her eyebrow as she ran her fingers gently up and down Ali’s back. “Would you prefer that I do that? Cause I _could_ , if that’s what you really want…”

“Hmm, I don’t know.” Ali set her face as if she was thinking about it, pulling her hands up to play with the skin along Ashlyn’s pant line. “I probably wouldn’t be the only one staring, if you did that.” She pushed both of her hands underneath the fabric of Ashlyn’s pants, cupping her naked butt. She felt a gust of air on her neck as Ashlyn let out a soft breath, feeling her lips curl into a grin against the thin skin of her neck.

Ashlyn picked her head up from where it was burrowed against Ali’s neck and kissed her one more time before pulling back completely, heading towards the door. “Come on, gorgeous, we don’t want them to start asking questions.”

Ali rolled her eyes as she patted Ashlyn’s butt before she walked out of her bedroom door. “Oh, now she cares.”

 


	11. Chapter 11

They pulled up to a slightly yellowing grass field with a fairly small group of people in sight. There was a large red cooler on the right side of the field that was just behind an uncomfortable looking metal bench. The biggest group of people were standing around the cooler, cans visible in their hands even from the parking lot about 60 yards away. Much of the noise that could be heard through the slightly lowered windows from Ashlyn’s jeep appeared to be coming from that group.

“Please tell me that’s your team.” The group in front of the other bench was noticeably smaller and quieter with no cooler to be found.

“Of course.” Ali swung the passenger side door open and jumped out of her seat. “A cooler full of beer is sort of our thing.” She walked around to the back of the car, pulling the hatch open when she got there to grab her drawstring bag from the trunk.

Ashlyn met her back there, leaning casually up against the side of her jeep. “So it didn’t really put you out any, bringing a cooler that first party.”

She shrugged as she pulled the bag onto her back, “Sometimes I forget that most people don’t travel everywhere with one.”

Ashlyn smiled as she reached above her head to pull the hatch closed, walking next to Ali on their way to the field. “Are you nervous?”

Ali snorted. “No. I’ve been playing this game for years. And this is a rec league.” Ashlyn raised her eyebrows dramatically. “Plus, we’ve won the league every year that I’ve been on the team. It’s difficult to get nervous when your team doesn’t lose.”

“Well, well. Someone is a little cocky.”

“Pot, meet kettle.”

Ashlyn grinned. “Fair enough. But you never know. This team might be really good.” They both turned to look over at the group on the left side of the field. They weren’t talking much, but kept looking over at the other bench. Even from here, Ashlyn could see they looked nervous. One of the girls kept looking at her phone, then back at the other team, eyebrows furrowed.

“I’m not going to hold my breath on that one. But, I will play my very best, seeing as how you were nice enough to wake up early on a Sunday to come watch me.” She winked at Ashlyn as they walked up to her team. “Everyone, this is Ashlyn. Ashlyn, my team.”

“Oh, we’ve got fans now!” A shorter brunette with a severe ponytail clapped her hands as she looked at Ashlyn. She scrunched her face up in thought, pointing her finger at her. “And you look familiar. Why do you look familiar?”

Ali smiled, giving the girl a quick hug. “She plays, too. A year younger than us, but went to Point Pleasant. I’m pretty sure we played against her at some point.” Ali turned her attention back to Ashlyn, arm still around the shorter girls shoulder. “This is Steph, my best friend.”

“Ahh, the best friend, better make a good impression then.” She shook the girl’s hand, who had Ali a not-so-subtle questioning look as she grabbed Ashlyn’s hand. “You look familiar to me, too. Striker, right?”

Steph slowly drew her attention away from Ali, who was now opening her bag, and back at Ashlyn. “Yeah. Have I scored on you?”

Ali swatted her shin from her spot on the ground, but Ashlyn just laughed. “Yep. I remember you always blowing by my defenders. You would drive me nuts.” Steph joined in on her laughter while Ali just rolled her eyes. Ashlyn looked down at her. “Aw, Al, don’t be jealous.” She looked back up to meet Steph’s eyes. “She’s just jealous cause she hasn’t scored on me yet.”

\----

“So why is there a super attractive goalkeeper watching our game at the ass crack of dawn on a Sunday morning?”

Steph and Ali were warming up on the far end of the field, passing the ball back and forth quickly. Ali looked over to the sidelines to where Ashlyn was sitting, talking to someone that she had probably just met. She turned her attention back to Steph who was just staring at her pointedly. “I work with her.”

Steph rolled her eyes and kicked the ball to her. “You work with her? Do you often bring coworkers to watch your games?” Ali kept an unreadable face as she focused all of her attention on the ball. Steph trapped the ball under her foot, forcing Ali to look up. “Did you give her one of your jersey’s to wear underneath that hoodie?”

Ali looked at her seriously, letting out a slow breath. “Steph, we have a very important game to be warming up for. I am trying to work on my touch.” She could only keep her face serious for a couple seconds as Steph stared back at her. They both let out a laugh as they looked across the field, watching balls going rolling off in every direction.

“Come on, I’m serious Ali. What’s going on? You didn’t even tell me about her. And then she says that she has to make a good first impression like she’s meeting your family or something. Spill.”

“I know, right? Apparently she’s very old-school. She even comes to my door when she comes to my house to pick me up.”

Steph let out a loud laugh, and Ali couldn’t help but to laugh along with her. “I don’t know what’s going on. I met her at work and we just hit it off right away. I mean, you saw how she is. She’s just an easy person to like.”

This time, Steph’s smile was genuine. She looked at Ali, then back over at the sideline to see Ashlyn looking over in their general direction. She lifted her arm and waved dramatically. Ashlyn smirked before waving back before turning her focus to Ali. She winked exaggeratedly and gave her the thumbs up. Ali smiled back then turned back to look at Steph. “Well, you can tell her that she made a good first impression. I like her. But how about you keep me updated from now on?”

Ali let out a soft laugh. “Deal.”

“Oh! We should totally go on a double date! I’m sure Dan would love that!”

Ali rolled her eyes. “We are not going on a double date. And I’m sure Dan would hate that.”

\----

Ashlyn held her hand up for a high five when Ali walked over to her after the game finished. “Good game, killer. Score for me next time, though, so I can embarrass you with my excessive celebration.”

Ali high-fived her, feeling Ashlyn curl her fingers, keeping their hands together. Steph walked by, whispered “cute!” loudly. Ashlyn turned to smirk at her as she went to sit on the bench before turning to Ali and wiggling her eyebrows.

Ali ignored the interaction, but smiled as she brought their joined hands down to their sides. “I’m a defender. I’m not supposed to score. But now I have even more incentive not to.” Ashlyn looked affronted. “I thought you’d be happier that we didn’t let them score. Aren’t clean sheets a goalkeeper’s wet dream or something?”

Ashlyn laughed, letting go of Ali’s hand so she could untie her cleats. “Amongst other things, yeah, something like that. But I can’t do my planned celly for a good defensive play, especially when they never really made it into your defensive third.”

“Oh, there was a whole planned out thing? Now I’m curious.”

“I’m not telling you what it is. Score and find out.” She shrugged nonchalantly. She hooked her thumb over her shoulder to where Steph was sitting. “So, did I pass the best friend test?”

Ali looked up from tying her cleats to see Ashlyn looking seriously at her. She turned her attention back to the task at hand. “Don’t know what you’re talking about. We didn’t even talk about you.”

“Please,” Ashlyn snorted, “I saw you guys keep looking over here.”

“Were you watching us the whole time?”

“Kind of. I did come to see you play.”

Ali paused and looked up again. She smiled at Ashlyn who was, apparently still waiting for a response. “Yeah.”

Ashlyn looked frustrated. “Yeah, what?”

“Yeah, she likes you. And I’m sure you already knew that. You make a hell of a first impression.”

Ashlyn smiled at her and moved to sit down next to her on the bench. “Oh yeah? Are you speaking from experience her or…”

“I might be.”

Ashlyn leaned her shoulder against her, grinning wildly. “Do you like me or something?”

Ali had a smile on her face, but refused to look over at Ashlyn, keeping herself busy by putting all of her equipment in her bag.

Ashlyn stood up, waiting for Ali to be finished. “Fine, be difficult.” Ali just rolled her eyes playfully, standing up next to Ashlyn. She felt Ashlyn bump her with her hip and turned to look at her. “But I like you a whole lot.” She grinned down at Ali, before nodding her head over at where Steph was still sitting. “Almost as much as I like Steph.”

Ali shook her head with a smile on her face, pointing her body over to where Steph was. “You big softie.”

\----

“Bye Steph, see you next week.” Ali and Ashlyn stopped in front of where Steph was sitting, untying her own cleats while finishing a beer.

“See, Ali, she’s got her priorities straight. And she scored. Maybe she’ll give you some pointers.” Ali frowned at her, but she just turned her attention back to Steph. “It was great meeting you. Good game. I’m sure I’ll be seeing you around.”

Steph stood up with a smile on her face. “Oh, I’m sure. Ali asked me about going on a double date before the game. We’ll have to plan that out.”

Ali whipped around to look at Steph. “I never said that.”

“Oh, awesome! That sounds like fun. When are you free?”

Ali turned to look at Ashlyn with a stern look on her face. “We’re not going on a double date with them.”

“Maybe Friday or Saturday? I’ll have to check with Dan, my boyfriend. I think you guys will get along great."

“Steph, your mom’s birthday is on Friday.”

“Saturday will probably work better for me an Ali anyways. Neither of us are working.”

Ali gave Ashlyn a stern look, which she seemed not to take notice of.

“Sounds like a plan! Here, this is my number, I’ll let you know if anything changes.”

Ashlyn handed her phone over to Steph and turned to smile down at a clearly frustrated Ali. She wrapped her arm around her shoulder, pulling her against the side of her body. “Good idea, Alex. I’m sure we’ll all just have a real hoot.”

Steph nodded along as she handed Ashlyn’s phone back to her. Ali wrapped her left arm around Ashlyn’s waist hesitantly, rolling her eyes at the wide grins on both of their faces.

“Fine.”


	12. Chapter 12

“So, Steph texted me this morning and said that her and Dan are for sure in for Saturday.”

Ali turned slowly from the man that had just turned away from the counter to walk towards his theatre to see Ashlyn leaning against the counter with a sly smirk on her face. “I told her that we were still in and that you were very excited.”

She turned to her left, letting out a not so soft moan, tossing the ticket stubs into a plastic bin on the counter next to her. “Did you also tell her that you’re a dirty, filthy liar and that I’ve actually given you absolutely no indication that I’m ‘very excited’ about dinner at all?”

“I don’t think that you’re giving your best friend enough credit here, Ali.” She paused as Ali crossed her arms tightly across her chest and raised her eyebrows miraculously high. “She said that I have until Saturday at noon to let her know that you’ve cancelled, and after that you’ll just have to pony up and get over it. Her words, not mine.” Ashlyn raised her hands in the air innocently, taking a step closer to Ali. “I just don’t understand why you don’t want to go.”

Ali let out a sigh that was only vaguely dramatic. “I just don’t know why we have to do this so soon. You guys just met.”

“Aw, Al, are you afraid that your best friend is going to like me better than you?” She reached out and poked Ali gently in her side trying to get her to smile.

“Not a chance.” She uncrossed her arms and looked up as she heard the door open. “Maybe I would just rather go out with you alone.”

Ali felt Ashlyn’s eyes on her during the entire interaction with the older couple that were her Tuesday regulars. As they made their way slowly around the corner, Ali finally turned to meet Ashlyn’s gaze. “Who’s the big softie now, Alexandria?”

Ali couldn’t help the smile that spread across her face. “You’ve still got me beat, you dork. I’m just _saying_ , you’re not doing anything to break any lesbian stereotypes. Should I invite my parents, too? Is your lease ending soon, should we just look for a place together?”

“Yes and yes. I’ve already got the ring picked out. You’re gonna love it.” Ashlyn bumped her hip against Ali’s as the door to the theatre swung open again. “I’m just trying to give you a buffer. For all you know, I’m obnoxious with an audience. If you still like me after this, I’ll take you out all on your own.”

Ali slid over to take Ashlyn’s vacated spot against the counter, smiling wide. “Deal.”

\----

 **Striker Steph (12:01)** “ _I haven’t gotten ur text of a cancellation in a timely fashion”_

**Striker Steph (12:02)** _“there’s no way she actually said yes”_

**Striker Steph (12:02)** _“I didn’t even ask dan about tonight cause I didn’t think itd actually happen…”_

**Keeper?? (12:05)** _“lol well you should tell him cuz she’s in!”_

**Keeper?? (12:06)** _“and dare I say she’s not completely unhappy about it either”_

**Striker Steph (12:10)** _“who r u and what have u done to my best friend”_

\----

Ali had just gotten out of the shower when she heard a knock on her door. She wrapped one towel around her hair and another one around her body and shuffled herself towards the door. She opened it quickly, and a horrified look spread across her face.

“Well, I was hoping you’d be a little more excited to see me, but I guess I’ll take what I can get.” Ashlyn smiled at her as she held up a cooler in her hands. “Do you always answer your door in a towel? Maybe I’ll start stopping by more often.”

Ali stepped back, allowing Ashlyn to walk inside, before closing the door. She was wearing a tight fitting pair of black pants and a short sleeve button up with the sleeves rolled. They were riding even further up her biceps due to the fact that her arms were curled up with the weight of the cooler. She looked up confusedly at Ashlyn’s face. “Am I running late? What time is it?” Her attention fell back towards the cooler still in Ashlyn’s hands. “And why do you have a cooler? It’s Saturday. Aren’t we going out on your masterminded double date?”

“You’re not late, I just thought I’d come by a little early to help you shake some of your nerves.” She set the cooler down and looked at her watch. “It’s still only 5, you still have like an hour.” She reached back down, pulling the lid off the cooler and handing Ali a beer.

She reached out slowly to take the proffered drink, staring at Ashlyn. “What, you’re not having one?”

Ashlyn shook her head. “Nope, I’m driving. And I’m not nervous, so I don’t really need one.”

“I am not nervous.”

“Mmmhmmm, sure.” She sat down on the couch and flipped the TV on.

“So you brought me a cooler full of beer to shake off my nonexistent nerves? Are you trying to get me drunk before we even get to the restaurant?”

Ashlyn smirked. “Well, I didn’t think you would have the whole cooler before we left, but by all means.” She held her arms out to the cooler that she’d left at the side of the couch. “I actually thought we could have them afterwards. You know, to try and forget the awful time that I’m sure we’re going to have.”

Ali raised an eyebrow as she took a drink from the can. “Already inviting yourself back? And you called me cocky.”

“I’m hoping you’ll invite me back. But if I mess up royally at any point during the night, feel free to keep it for yourself as payment for a bad date.”

“But you obviously don’t think it’s going to go badly.”

“I do not.”

“Fine. But if it sucks, you’re never going to hear the end of it.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything less.”

Ali smiled and held up her beer in salute. “Then I’ll finish getting dressed.”

\----

Ashlyn was listening to Ali yell at her from her bedroom down the hall about her day at work as she finished getting dressed. The volume on the TV was turned down to the point where it was nearly inaudible so that Ashlyn could hear her clearly. Her right arm was thrown across the back of the couch so that her body was facing Ali’s kitchen. She studied it carefully as she occasionally yelled back with a question of her own.

Ali came out after a bit and went into the kitchen to set her now empty can in the sink before sitting down on the couch next to Ashlyn. She had on a pair of black leggings and an oversized white blouse with her hair curled neatly over her shoulder. She looked at Ashlyn with an amused look on her face. “What are you staring at?”

Ashlyn grinned and turned her attention back to the kitchen, pointing over Ali’s shoulder. “I like your kitchen. It’s cute. Did you decorate yourself?”

Ali looked over her shoulder before turning back to look at Ashlyn. “I did. That’s probably the thing that I liked best about getting my own place. I got to decorate all of it myself. I went a little crazy, but it was so much fun.”

Ashlyn laughed. “That’s probably the thing that I hated the most. I realized that I didn’t have anything to spruce up the place with. All my friends got me stuff to hang on the walls and put on the shelves as housewarming gifts. So now it actually looks lived in and not just like a crash pad.”

“I like your house,” Ali smiled as she crossed her legs, “I think it’s very you.”

“I will pass that along to my people. Clearly they know me well.”

“Do I know the person that got you that painting of the naked woman above your TV?” Ashlyn nodded with a smirk already on her face. “Was it Pinoe?” Ashlyn nodded again as a laugh escaped her.

“She said it was very difficult to justify giving it to me because she wanted it for herself. But, ultimately, she decided that my needs were greater than hers.” She laughed again. “Which was great for me, because I love it.”

“Me too.”

Ashlyn turned the TV off and stood up, holding both of her hands out to help Ali up. “We should get going.”

Ali pulled herself up and stood, the front of her body brushing lightly against Ashlyn’s. “Thanks for coming over early with beer. But you really didn’t have to do that.”

Ashlyn reached out and put both of her hands on Ali’s waist. “I felt bad that I made our first date a double date.” She paused. “But don’t tell Steph I said that.”

Ali laughed. “My lips are sealed.” She squinted up at Ashlyn. “Did you forget that we went to play paintball or does that not count?”

Ashlyn let go of her hips but reached for her hand, curling their fingers together. “I was still courting you then. And I paid with a coupon. So that doesn’t count.”

“Oh, I didn’t know I was being courted.” Ali smiled as she led them out her front door and towards Ashlyn’s jeep. “But for what it’s worth, I consider paintball a date. I think coupons are resourceful.”

Ashlyn opened Ali’s door, but stopped her before she got in. “I have a ton of coupons at my apartment for places all over town.”

Ali leaned forward and kissed Ashlyn’s smirking lips, cupping her hand around the back of her neck before pulling back. “That’s my middle-aged girl.”


End file.
